Lanchester to step down from ASA, Booktopia orders not being filled, ACT Literary Awards winners
Olivia Lanchester, CEO of the Australian Society of Authors, is stepping down; meanwhile, in the latest Booktopia news, the website is not taking orders, and customers with outstanding orders will need to make a claim of debt against the company, as the ABC reports that administrators have identified company debts of around $60 million. In Broome, Magabala Books has announced its 2024 board, with current deputy chair Steve Kinnane stepping into the role of chair, as well as three new directors joining the board; and also in WA, Perth-based independent press Red Paper Kite is up for sale. In distribution changes, US publishing company Authors Equity has partnered with Simon & Schuster Australia for ANZ sales and distribution of its titles; and Thames & Hudson ANZ will move its Australia and New Zealand distribution from Alliance Distribution Services to United Book Distributors in February 2025.
In awards news, the winners of the ACT Literary Awards have been announced; Jeffrey Buchanan won the 2024 Michael Gifkins Prize for the manuscript The Birds Began to Sing; Dan Hogan won the 2024 Mary Gilmore Award (for Secret Third Thing, Cordite Books) and Ann-Marie Priest won the 2024 Magarey Medal (for My Tongue Is My Own: A life of Gwen Harwood, La Trobe University Press); and the Australian Jewish Book Awards has added a new unpublished manuscript prize.
Overseas, the UK book market is down so far this year, compared to last year, in the absence of Prince Harry’s Spare; while the Independent Alliance sales collective has, for the first time, placed above one of the ‘big four’ publishers for sales for the year to date; and in the US, audiobook publisher RBmedia has agreed to acquire independent audiobook publisher Dreamscape Media.
In acquisitions news this week, UQP acquired world rights to a new poetry collection from Evelyn Araluen, author of the Stella Prize–winning Dropbear (also UQP), and sold UK/Commonwealth (ex ANZ) rights to Jordan Prosser’s debut novel, Big Time, to Dead Ink; Hachette acquired world rights to Scott Woodard’s debut contemporary YA novel, Poster Boys, via Danielle Binks at Jacinta di Mase Management; and Melbourne Books acquired world rights to Chris O’Connor’s debut nonfiction music title, Bob Dylan for Beginners: You don’t need a weatherman.
Category: This week’s news
